been
emptied into my jumper. "The fellow started back at sight of me, and I
don't think he meant to leave go of the gashing-tub as he did."

"Begorrah!" cried Mick indignantly, "why didn't he stop and say so loike
a man, insted ov snakin' away loike a cur?"

I cast my eyes about me and saw, truly enough, that `Ugly' had
disappeared.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

COMEDY TO TRAGEDY.

"Hullo, my lads! This won't do, this won't do!" shouted out a petty
officer just then, as he came tacking about the deck and trying to make
a straight course for the hatchway. "There'd be a fine row if Number
One came along here and saw that theer mess on the deck!"

"Faith, we couldn't hilp it, row or no row," said Mick, whose temper was
a little bit heated from the recollection of `Ugly's' conduct, and the
fright he really had experienced on my account in spite of his trying to
treat it as a joke. "Sure, sor, the toob toombled down atop ov this
poor bhoy here, an' a'most made gammy duff ov him!"

"Well, well, p'raps y'll have better luck next time," replied the man
jokingly; and, turning to me, he said in a kindly way, "A miss is as
good as a mile, my lad; but, accident or no accident, you'll have to
clear up that mess there, or there'll be ructions aboard, I can tell
you!"

"All roight, sor," said Mick, as he clutched hold of a swab which we had
brought with us, in case of such an emergency. "Oi'll make it roight,
sure, in a brace ov shakes, sor."

I, too, bore a hand with another swab, as did Finlayson; and we soon
made the place all shipshape again, another wave, which washed down the
hatchway when we had finished, putting a polish on our work.

Nothing further was seen of `Ugly,' however, either by Mick or myself,
the ill-tempered brute evidently keeping out of our way; and it was not
till late in the afternoon that I saw him again aft, when both watches
were called to treble-reef the topsails, and we boys belonging to the
ship had to go aloft to take in the mizzen.

We had not weathered Finisterre yet, though we had been bucketing about
in the Bay now for over three days; the wind, which had been blowing in
strong squalls from the north'ard and west'ard, suddenly backing to the
south-east and coming on to blow harder than ever.

The sea got up also in a corresponding degree, its huge billows, as they
rolled onward propelled by the gale, rearing themselves up in mid-air
till they seemed sometimes to be level with the top o